Reading Sideways

On Sunday I read the excert of Betty Edwards book about Drawing the Right side of the brain. While I was reading I found it very difficult to concentrate, as I often do when reading material that is easily understood. I find that sometimes if the reading does not occupy my entire capacity for attention, my mind will try to fill the empty space by paying attention to something else, making it very difficult to digest the reading properly.
Sometimes I play music to fill the empty space. This time i was in the library and had no music. Moreover, while i was reading about left brain and right brain and about turning things upside down, I realised that there was more than one way to read a book. At first I flipped the book upside down and continued to read. I found that i was capable of reading the words aloud, but I was not able to retain them to any substantial degree. So i turned the book sideways. This was perfect. This allowed me look at written words from a new perspective, reading down the page instead of across, similar to chinese maybe. I say the words and the lines for the shapes they made, as well as for their literal meaning. The extra strain on my brain was also just enough to keep me focused.
The next day monday, I attempted to go the whole day reading sideways. I found that i became much more aware of the language being used, because it was so much more difficult to read. Big words stand out a lot more. And poor writing techniques tend to trip you up. I found that very often I would try to anticipate words before reading them and frequently i was wrong.